Gulf Times web article
11th July 2007
Travel agency eyes global award
Staff Reporter
After winning the top prize in the Middle East, Regency Travels and Tours has now set its sights on global honours. The agency created history in June by becoming the first company to win “the Middle East’s Leading Travel Agency” award from the World Travel Awards, described as the industry’s equivalent to Oscars.
Tareq Abdullatif Taha, general manager of Regency, is confident that his company, already nominated for the global award, has “more than a fair chance” to win it. The Leading Travel Agency of the World award is to be given away on December 12 at a gala ceremony in the picturesque Turks and Caicos Island in the Caribbeans. Taha’s optimism is based on a number of factors. According to him, Regency is the only travel agency in the world to have its own exclusive call centre, functioning 24X7. It is also the only one to have a special lounge for first class and business class passengers at its premises.
In addition, Regency provided private parking facility, published its own quarterly magazine and a monthly newsletter. It offered a one-stop facility for all travel related services. They included separate counters for specialised tours like education and health; courier and cargo service; money exchange; travel insurance and cafeteria. Besides, the company offered a bank counter and online booking facility with its own payment gateway, enabling customers sitting anywhere in the world to book tickets from anywhere to anywhere, he said. “Most of these services are unique to us and we are definitely firm favourites when the crème de la creme of the global travel industry meets later this year,” the general manager said. “We hope we will be voted as the best in the world”.
He pointed out that Regency was the general sales agent for Virgin Atlantic, Air Arabia, and Kingfisher airlines, and had more than 20 branches or implant offices throughout Qatar.
The World Travel Awards are the most comprehensive and most prestigious awards programme in global travel industry. This was established in 1993 to acknowledge and celebrate excellence in the world’s travel and tourism industry. With thousands of votes cast by travel professionals from travel agencies in over 200 countries across the globe, winning a World Travel Award had become one of the highest accolades a travel product could achieve, industry sources said.
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Article taken from Gulf Times.
